“The situation in California is changing, but there are still many dogs dying in shelters or even worse, not getting picked up off the streets as strays,” said society president Leslie Fee.

“This has motivated our team to work even harder this year to save more dogs.”

All have been treated at the society Rescue Ranch in Blaine for various illnesses and injuries as well as getting their shots and being spayed or neutered.

The Langley event is being held in partnership with PetSmart Charities of Canada at the PetSmart store from Aug. 10 to Aug. 12.

Lower Mainland residents who are interested in adopting can complete an application on the society’s website www.embracesociety.ca in advance, or at the store during the event.

Selected applicants will be interviewed, and a home check will be done before applicants are approved to adopt.

“We encourage anyone interested in adopting a rescue dog to come out to PetSmart Langley this weekend and meet our gorgeous dogs,” said Fee. “We will work with qualified applicants to match the right people with the right dog.”

The society has been involved with the rescue, transport, and re-homing of small breed dogs from California since 2012.

It estimates around 200,000 dogs are euthanized each year in California alone.

“The dogs who enter these shelters have virtually no chance of being adopted and very little time to survive in a shelter – sometimes only a couple of days,” the society website states.

“Caring shelter managers in California know they must send dogs to other geographical areas to save their lives. There are just too many dogs pouring into their shelters every day.”

Meanwhile, in the Lower Mainland, the society says there is a lack of small dogs in shelters, which means people looking for small breeds or needing a small dog due to strata restrictions and rental rules have a hard time finding dogs locally.

This is at a time when California has some of the worst kill shelters in all of North America, the society says.

“We transport dogs from very over-populated high-kill shelters in California, or other shelters where needed, to less populated areas, giving these innocent lives a second chance at life — a second chance they very much deserve. “